Hero to Zero
by nobley
Summary: Story about a new guy in a new school- former jock now he's forced to be in...band?
1. The Beginning

Chapter One  
  
BRIIIINNNNNNGGGG!  
  
There it was. The first stupid bell in this new stupid school in this new stupid state with NOTHING to do. Goodness, what were his parents thinking moving to this place out in the middle of nowhere. Over at his old school he was SOMETHING. Now Chris was nothing- a nobody. At his old school, he was THE best on the wrestling team. Yup, he had it all. Everything was going great until now- moving to a school which doesn't even have a wrestling team. How could it get any worse?  
  
To make it even worse, he had got stuck in BAND since it was in the middle of the year. Now THAT was a statement- a lame one. Going from HERO to ZERO. Popular to geek. Wrestling champ to band nerd.  
  
The day was just like you'd expect for him moving from the home he'd been at all 16 years of his life which he loved, now moving to....this. Then lunch came and he grabbed his tray of, well whatever they served there, and sat down- alone.  
  
"Well Hi there!" Only a few minutes later a girl sat down next to him. She had shoulder-length blonde hair and bright blue eyes. "Chris, is it?"  
  
"Um, yeah, do I know you?" he asked wondering how she'd known his name- he hadn't talked to anyone all day.  
  
"Oh yeah my name is Trisha Knapp, but most people just call me Trish. Mr. Ross, the band director pointed you out to me earlier and told me to try and make you feel welcome. He said you were going to be in our band class."  
  
"Yup that'd be me all right," (not exactly thrilled of being in a band class- at his old school him or any of his friends would never even think of wanting to be in that loser group called band).  
  
"Mmm...so....what do you play?" she said smiling (how could she seem so proud and happy being in band?)  
  
"Play?" Chris said with a laugh, sarcastic, "I don't play nothing- at my old school I wasn't even in band. I liked wrestling. I just got stuck in this stupid class because every other class like this I'd be too far behind."  
  
Trish bit her lip and kind of looked away when he'd said "stupid class."  
  
"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean it like that." Chris said apologetically, but he couldn't understand why he'd just apologized for this now- he'd been calling band stupid for- well, ever.  
  
Before he'd noticed it, he'd eaten all of his (what they called) food. The bell rang and the cafeteria started to clear out.  
  
"Well," Trish said taking one last swig out of her drink, "I'll see ya in band."  
  
"Greeeeat...I can't wait..." Chris said grimly, not looking forward to his new life at this school at all. 


	2. Band Period

**Chapter 2**  
  
BRRRIIINNNNGGG!  
That was it. The first bell was hard enough. Now it was 8th period. Band period.  
Chris, as slowly as possible, gathered all of his things at his locker and proceeded to put them in his backpack to take to class. He then shut his locker, and jumped, at the sight of Trish standing right behind it.  
"Haha- geesh, I didn't mean to scare ya!" she said to him, giggling.  
"Aw man" Chris said rolling his eyes, slightly annoyed by Trish's sudden appearances all day long.  
"Haha- I won't do it again- only if you deserve it, though!" Trish said, "now come on before we're late for your first day of band!"  
"Oh yeah I wouldn't want to be late for that..." Chris mumbled sarcastically.  
"Hmm?"  
"Nothing," said Chris.  
They finally made it to the very end of the hall, the band room wasn't hard to find seeing as even though the bell had already rung and classes were now in session, that it was loud enough to hear at the other side of the school buildings. Chris could already here someone bashing on the drums and the occasional clash of the cymbals, along with an unarranged tooting of horns.  
When he made it to the doorway, saying the room looked and sounded like a jungle was an understatement. Half people standing up, half sitting down. Some playing loudly and others in small groups talking. A man with a balding head and beard was standing at the podium yelling, although it just looked like he was moving his mouth because he couldn't be heard over the drums and all of the other noises in the room.  
But as soon as the door shut behind Chris, the room became silent. There was not a single noise. Everyone turned around to look at him. Chris was beginning to wonder how long it'd been since they'd had a newcomer. After feeling awkward, or at least thinking these people were, the man came down off the podium with a smile.  
"Well, um, hi Chris. I'm Mr. Ross, the band director here at Arlington High. Welcome to band!"  
It was obvious there was something wrong with this man. Seriously wrong. He was way too happy just for a band, but Chris pasted on a smile anyway to at least look halfway enthusiastic.  
"So what do you play?" asked Mr. Ross.  
Chris hesitated, "He doesn't play anything yet, Mr. Ross, he's never been in band before." Trish explained.  
"Oh..." said Mr. Ross, "well that's quite all right! We enjoy a challenge, don't we class?"  
The classmates had an uneasy look on their faces.  
"Well, do you have an interest in any specific instrument?" Asked Mr. Ross, with still that cheesy smile on his face.  
"Um, no, not exactly..." Chris said- whatever he had to play it wasn't going to be his decision, so at least if it didn't work out he wouldn't have to blame it on himself.  
"Well how about the drums? We could use a little more in our percussion section." Suggested Mr. Ross.  
"Um, sure, but I don't know how." Chris said, wondering why if they were so loud that of all instruments they would need any more drums.  
"Well that's okay. Maybe I can call your parents and arrange for some afterschool practices- maybe starting today!" said Mr. Ross.  
"Okay..." Chris said with a fake smile, what was he supposed to say? 


	3. A New line of thinking?

Chapter 3  
  
"Okay, let's start with the basics..." Mr. Ross said with a sigh, knowing he had his work nearly cut out for him to teach this young man to play drums well enough to play this summer in marching band, only about 2 months till the end of the school year.  
"This," he started, "is a snare drum. It's what you'll soon be able to play after we get past learning about reading music, then working our way into rhythms, and other things you need to know to play it."  
Chris rolled his eyes when Mr. Ross wasn't looking- if this guy were to be any cheesier, he'd be wrapped up in a deli bar by now.  
For another hour and a half, Chris had worked his way into a half- baked paradiddle- not perfect, but better than where he'd started.  
"Practice tomorrow sound good?" asked Mr. Ross, as Chris was about to walk out the door.  
"Sure...sounds great..." Chris said, obviously very unexcited.  
Mr. Ross could tell Chris wasn't exactly thrilled to be in band, "Chris, I know how you feel about joining band, but take it like this: when you'd wrestle, if you were going to win, you had to get on top of your opponent, you couldn't just sit there- you had to get in and on top of everything or you'd just get thrown down. This is very much the same. You just have to get on top of this stuff and you'll get your victories- but not until you start putting some effort into it."  
Chris considered it. Somewhere in there Mr. Ross was starting to make some sense.  
"Thanks Mr. Ross." Chris said (still unsure if what he'd said kicked in and helped any yet).  
Chris walked out, the door shut behind him. All was quiet until he could hear his head screaming...  
  
"ME? In BAND???" 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4  
  
"So how was your first day?" His mom asked as he got in the car, many times more thrilled than he was.  
"Fine." Chris said, the normal answer to this question regardless of anything a day brought.  
"And how was band?" his mom asked.  
Chris said nothing- just looked over to his mom and lifted one eyebrow.  
"Oh, I see." She said, "but come on, Chris, you know it'll get better! Trust me, you'll have tons of fun!"  
"Whatever." Said Chris.  
"Well, you'll see," said his mom, "but I got to stop at the store on the way home. I'm gonna need you to go in with me to help pick up some stuff."  
  
They pulled into Kroger's after a quiet trip there. Chris' mom handed him a list of some things to pick up.  
"I'll meet you back in the car in about 20 minutes, is that all right?" she asked.  
"Yes, mom." He said, hoping to just get this through and over with soon so he could just go home, even if his home was now in West Virginia, instead of the place he wanted to be, New York.  
  
Chris was picking up the last few minutes on his mom's list when he bumped into a girl his age, knocking over everything she'd been carrying.  
"Oh, sorry, I didn't see you there, my bad." He said apologetically.  
"It's okay...hey wait a minute," she said eyeing him more closely, "aren't you the new guy at school."  
"Yeah, I guess that'd be me."  
"Oh, well I'm Cindy Parkinson." She said flipping her blonde hair back.  
"Chris Snyder."  
"So um, I heard you went to school in New York, right?"  
"Yup," said Chris, knowing his mom was probably already waiting for him out in the car.  
"And you were on the wrestling team?" she asked.  
"Yeah, too bad there's no wrestling team at this new school."  
"Well how about football? I'd be on the sidelines cheering for you...seeing as I'm on the varsity cheer squad..." Cindy said braggingly, and flirtingly.  
"That's okay- he's in band already!" Wouldn't you know- it was Trish who's popped up out of nowhere-again.  
"Band? You've got to be kidding me." Cindy said- with a tone saying she didn't care that much for band.  
"Yup, that's right, isn't it, Chris?" said Trish smiling, patting him on the back.  
"Well whatever, Snyder, see ya around. I wouldn't want to intrude on you and your new girlfriend." Said Cindy, rolling her eyes, turning around, and strutting away.  
"Trish, what was that all about?!?" asked Chris, a little angry at Trish now for butting in like that- the last thing he wanted to do was let someone like that know that he was in band.  
"Geesh, sorry," she apologized, "don't get all mad or anything I didn't mean nothing by it!"  
"Okay," said Chris.  
"Chris! There you are! I've been out waiting for you for 15 minutes!" came Chris' mom. What was with these girls just appearing everywhere?  
"Oh..." said Chris' mom eyeing Trish, "aren't you going to introduce me to your new friend from school?"  
Chris rolled his eyes, "mom, this is Trish, Trish this is mom. There- you're introduced." Chris said with an impatient sigh.  
"Well it's nice to meet you Trish," Chris' mom said shaking Trish's hand, ignoring the way her son was acting.  
"Nice to meet you too, Mrs. Snyder." Trish said smiling.  
"So, do you have any classes together?" asked Chris' mom curiously.  
"just Band and Spanish." Answered Trish.  
"Oh well that's great!" Chris' mom said, then glanced at her watch, "Oh my, Chris, we need to be getting home- your dad'll be there soon. It was nice meeting you Trish! Have a good day!"  
"Wow, that Trish seemed like an awful nice girl, Chris..." said Chris' mom as they walked away.  
"Oh brother..." he thought, knowing what she was implying. 


End file.
